Yes, there are two Americas’ Virginia, they exist as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. One tolerant and broadminded, the other intolerant and narrow-minded!
Sincerely, thinkingblue, from the TOLERANT AND BROADMINDED USA
PS: Joe (You Lie) Wilson, et al reside in the other America!

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Since most of my reading is done on the computer, I don't usually speak much about reading books, but this one is a must read for all of us, who wishto know why our leaders keep finding reasons to go to WAR... If there are no justifications in reality then they MAKE THEM UP!Thinking Blue

By Russ Baker, Special to The TimesDoes the unspooling Iraq saga fill you with a disquieting sense ofdéjà vu? Feel like you've been there, done that, been lied to andspun in this manner somewhere else, at some other point in time?Well, that's because you have.

Norman Solomon, a longtime media critic, lays out the elaboratehustle in his new book, "War Made Easy: How Presidents and PunditsKeep Spinning Us to Death." It's all there — Vietnam, the invasionsof Panama and Grenada, the first Gulf War and more. (Including afirst chapter about the 1965 U.S. invasion of the DominicanRepublic, an unfortunately labored and obscure choice to lead off anotherwise compelling read.)

The villains are the government and the media: thegovernment because time and again it remorselessly falsifies thereality of war, and the media because major press and broadcastoutlets can't seem to wriggle free from self-interest long enough tospeak truth to power.

Solomon offers 16 brutally persuasive chapters, each centered on aperennial falsehood, such as "If This War Is Wrong, Congress Will Stop It," "This Is About Human Rights" and "This Is Not at All About Oil or Corporate Profits."

One insidious whopperthat American war leaders always yearn for peace — runs counter tosuch evidence as the Nixon tapes, in which the president, whopublicly expressed concern about the Indochina carnage, is caught onthe White House recording system discussing with Henry A. Kissingeran extension of the bombing to new targets in North Vietnam:

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:"I still think we ought to take the dikes out…. Will that drown people?":"About 200,000 people."

: "No, no, no…. I'd rather use the nuclear bomb…. I just want you to think big, Henry, for Christ's sakes."

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The belief that the media will remain vigilant to governmentmisconduct in times of war is belied by an internal MSNBC reportcited by Solomon, which explains why Phil Donahue's show (with whichSolomon was associated) was canceled shortly before the Iraqinvasion. Keeping Donahue on the air, says one MSNBC executive,would "present a difficult public face for NBC in a time ofwar … [and become] a home for the liberal antiwaragenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag atevery opportunity."SIGN THE PETITIONThis may be a little late but it should be said.My 2 cents worth:"Phil Donahue's viewpoint represents over three quarters (in my opinion) of the American people's convictions on matters of War, Peace and Fairness. Taking him off the air, even though his show pulled in a large audience, told us you are not interested in what We The People Of This United States Of America, want to see on our TV's. How dare you use POLICE STATE actions of this sort!!"http://thinkingblue.blogspot.com/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Solomon also notes that less than 1% of the sources featured onCBS' "Evening News" during the Iraq War's first three weeks could beconsidered "antiwar."

For sheer chutzpah, nothing tops the story of U.S.troops during the1989 invasion of Panamaseizing a huge cache of dictator andformer U.S. ally Manuel Noriega's cocaine. Well after the event,the military was forced to admit that the reported stash wasactually tamales wrapped in banana leaves.This wasfollowed by the military's claim that Noriega had used the stash for"unspeakable acts of witchcraft and voodoo."

Solomon is most outraged by what he sees as the utter disconnectbetween Americans and the true horror of wars carried out in theirname and with their approval. He cites James Baldwin on denial, on"the fraudulent and expedient nature of the Americaninnocence which has always been able to persuade itself that it doesnot know what it knows too well."

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More James Baldwin Quotes:Americans, unhappily, have the most remarkable ability to alchemize all bitter truths into an innocuous but piquant confection and to transform their moral contradictions, or public discussion of such contradictions, into a proud decoration, such as are given for heroism on the battle field.

He may be a very nice man. But I haven't got the time to figure that out. All I know is, he's got a uniform and a gun and I have to relate to him that way. That's the only way to relate to him because one of us may have to die.

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.

I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.

It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. No one is more dangerous than he who imagineshimself pure in heart: for his purity, by definition, is unassailable.James A. Baldwin

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And Solomon adds, "Aren't we at least dimly aware that — no matterhow smooth and easy the news media and elected officials try to makeit for us — in faraway places there are people not so different thanus who are being destroyed by what journalists and politiciansglibly depict as necessary war?"

"War Made Easy" is largely an amalgam of material from others'books, speeches and articles. But Solomon is a formidable thinkerand activist in his own right. He traveled with Sean Penn to Iraqshortly before the invasion, and one wishes he had shared more ofhis considerable experiences in the media trenches.Solomon's voice, when he gives it full throat, is appropriatelysardonic.adj. Scornfully or cynically mocking. See Synonyms atsarcastic. - A cutting, often ironic remark intendedto wound. - A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcasticlanguage and is intended to make its victim the butt of contemptor ridicule.

IN OTHER WORDS SOLOMON "TELLS IT LIKE IT IS" and lets the chips fall where they may...We need this from the self- interested, greedy media pundits...but that will never happen, money is their creed, nottruth! Thinking Blue~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here he comments on a USA Today headline from June 2004, about theincoming Iraqi prime minister's support for the U.S.: "The banner headline was a classic of occupation puppetry and media gimmicky,"Solomon writes, noting that Iyad Allawi was long close tothe CIA but a virtual stranger to the Iraqi people."All in all, by Washington's lights, the man was eminently qualifiedto be Iraq's 'new leader.' And his superb judgment was immediatelyapparent: 'New Leader Asks U.S. to Stay'! "

"War Made Easy" is a must-read for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee, or to arm themselves for the debates about Iraq that are still to come.

Solomon cites a 2003 Los Angeles Times article,

(and this is the most chilling...Thinking Blue)

in which top Pentagon officials "are studying the lessons of Iraq closely — to ensure that the next U.S. takeover of a foreign country goes more smoothly." Says a top assistant to Defense Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld: "We'll get better as we do it more often."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Russ Baker (http://www.russbaker.com/) is a contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review and founder of a new nonprofit, the Real News Project, dedicated to investigative journalism.

If wrinkles must be written uponour brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit shouldnever grow old.John Kenneth Galbraith

About Me

Yes, there are two Americas’ Virginia, they exist as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. One tolerant and
free-thinking, the other intolerant and close-minded!
Sincerely, thinkingblue, from the TOLERANT AND FREE-THINKING USA
PS: Joe (You Lie) Wilson, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh et al reside in the intolerant America!